Zinnia Tower Project Nears Completion in Tucson

It has taken seven years, but the Zinnia tower project in Tucson will be done soon. Journal Broadcast Group VP of Radio Engineering Andy Laird tells Radio World Online that the crews will be "stacking steel" for KZPT(FM)'s new, taller tower in mid-January, 10 feet north of its old one, and the project should be done in March. The station airs at 104.1 MHz. It is building a guyed Pirod tower with a special pole from Jampro, to accommodate its existing Jampro two-bay, half-wave antenna. The structure will also serve as an STL distribution point for Journal's other stations in the market. The 3 kW Class A KZPT is in the northwest part of the city, between mountain ranges. It wants to increase its height above average terrain to 100 meters; the new tower will be be 729 feet to accomplish that, about 220 feet taller than it is now. "The impact on its signal is huge," Laird told RWO. The project is notable for several reasons, he said: the years it took to solve zoning, FAA and other permit matters; the easements for guy line sets required after the surrounding land had been sold; the fact that the local power company built power lines under two sets of the old tower's guy lines (the station ultimately paid to have them buried); and the decision by a local school district to place a building 50 feet from the existing tower. "We had to move the school, too," Laird said. The mounting pole is designed to allow coax to run through it and be pulled via pulley from the top, without disturbing tenant antennas. The general contractor for the project is Warmus and Associates. The station chief is Allen Sherrill.